


Adventures in Babysitting

by Footloose



Series: Loaded March EXTRAS [14]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Babysitting, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Kid Fic, Military
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-29
Updated: 2013-07-29
Packaged: 2017-12-21 16:53:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/902640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Footloose/pseuds/Footloose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gaius loves Merlin.  He really does.  He honestly doesn't mind it when Hunith tricks him into babysitting.  But there are times when Gaius is completely at a loss at what to do, and he muddles through as best he can.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adventures in Babysitting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [La_Temperanza](https://archiveofourown.org/users/La_Temperanza/gifts).



> Written as part of the Prompt Request #2 Round for Loaded March Extras:
> 
> Prompted by La_Temperenza  
>  _I don't know, I just wanted more stories about Merlin's magic from he was younger, either it be by story set in that time, or people discussing it? Does that make sense?_
> 
>  
> 
> As an aside, this fic doesn't quite fill the prompt -- I was aiming for light-hearted, and it didn't quite work out. So I will likely have another attempt at filling this prompt!
> 
> * * *

Gaius pinched the bridge of his nose. He was on R&R. He should be at the bar with his mates, decompressing from his latest mission. He should be calling Alice to tell her that he wouldn't be in the country long enough for them to get together, but that he'd finagled a fortnight of leave for next time, and he was planning to get a direct flight to wherever she was pilgrimaging when the occasion came along. He should be taking a long, hot shower in the relative peace and quiet of his base barracks to wash off some of the mud and dirt that he'd collected from his trip -- but only _some_ , because he would lose reputation credits if he didn't show up at roll call with grease under his fingernails.

But, no.

Hunith kidnapped him the instant his helo landed, fed him her famous beef and mushroom stew, informed him that she had the late shift at the hospital, and left him with Merlin while he was distracted by Hunith's caramel brownies.

Those brownies could cause peace talks to break down and a third world war to erupt just to get at the last piece.

Gaius loved his nephew. He truly did. But Merlin was eight years old and precocious, and his magic was growing stronger every day.

And right now, he wasn't talking to Gaius. Gaius had gone back over what had happened since he walked through the threshold of the on-base housing, but he couldn't fathom what he might have said to upset Merlin.

Gaius dropped his hand and sighed heavily. He stared heavenward and spotted the crack in the ceiling that Hunith always complaining about. It curled in a spiral, like a dragon's tail, a crinkly, shadowed, black line against the creamy white paint.

"Please, Merlin. I don't have time to play hide and seek. Please, _please_ come out, have your bath, and go to bed."

There was a long silence.

"Your mother won't be happy if she hears how you've been behaving," Gaius tried. There had been a time when the threat worked on Merlin, but lately, it was hit or miss. Gaius dreaded the day when even Hunith couldn't chastise Merlin into behaving.

It ground home the realization that Merlin needed to learn how to control his magic, how to hide it, and how to use it judiciously, and _now_ , when the lessons might actually stick.

There was a faint creak. Gaius thought it might be the door to the attic, which, _of course_. Merlin must have used his magic to pull it down; he was too small to reach the short cord even if he stood up on a chair. When Gaius came up on the hallway, the stairs were up, but only halfway, a force pushing down on it and preventing the springs from ratcheting it up again.

"Merlin?"

There was a soft sob.

"Oh, Merlin," Gaius whispered. He closed his eyes. Two years. _Two years_. He should have remembered. Today was an anniversary for which there was no cause for celebration.

It was the anniversary of Balinor officially being listed MIA.

Hunith was strong, steadfast, unwavering, but even Gaius didn't know how she was holding up as well as she was after the Brass had come knocking on her door, making eye contact and looking sympathetic the way they were told to when giving bad news. Gaius wished he could have been there for her when that happened, but Allan had been on break, then, holding her hand through the worst of it.

Will had been there for Merlin -- Will had always been there for Merlin. Gaius considered calling Allan to see if Will could come over, if for no other reason than to lure Merlin from the attic, but Gaius dimly remembered that Hunith mentioned yet another one of Will's pranks, and that he was grounded for the foreseeable future.

Like Merlin should be, if she could only prove his culpability. 

"Merlin? Can you come down, please?" Gaius asked.

There was a long, snuffling silence before Merlin answered. "I don't want to."

Gaius covered his mouth with his hand before running his fingers through his short hair. He considered heading into the cramped living room to watch the game and leaving Merlin up in the attic until he was damn well good and ready to come down. The only reason Gaius hadn't already turned around to do just that was because he remembered Hunith telling him, in great detail, of Merlin's latest health escapades. He'd just gotten over a lung infection; Hunith wouldn't forgive him if Merlin got sick _again_.

"I know where your mother hid the chocolate spread. I could make toasties," Gaius said. He didn't, on principle, enjoy bribing Merlin to do things, but he was at a loss on what else to do.

Merlin's sniffle erupted in a wet, snotty sneeze. _Dear God_ , Gaius thought. He had to get Merlin down from there.

"With bananas?" Merlin asked, his voice hoarse.

"The way your dad makes them," Gaius said, closing his eyes tightly when he realized what he'd just said. He pounded his fist against his forehead. _Damn it._ " _Made_ them. Oh, Merlin, I'm sorry --"

A new round of quiet sobs were accentuated by hiccupping gasps.

"Merlin. Merlin, please come down," Gaius begged. 

He listened to Merlin crying, and every second that passed only broke Gaius' heart. He sank down heavily, leaning against the wall, and stared at the ceiling. He wished that there was something that he could have done -- to save Balinor, if he needed saving. To bring Balinor back, if he was trapped somewhere. To shield both Hunith and Merlin from the pain of Balinor's disappearance. To take away the pain that Merlin suffered each and every day.

Gaius didn't know how long he sat there, craning his neck to hear better when Merlin stopped crying, closing his eyes when Merlin started crying again. He buried his face in his hands, and sighed.

Gaius must have fallen asleep at some point, because the garish orange streetlights shone through the sitting room and into the hallway and there was a warm weight against his side. Gaius lifted his arm and put it down around Merlin's shoulders comfortingly, and Merlin curled against him, snuggling closer.

Merlin's cheeks were pale, with dried white streaks from the tears. His eyes were red and swollen, his eyelashes clumped, his lips dry and raw where he had been biting them to keep from crying out loud.

Neither of them spoke. Neither of them moved. Except for Merlin, that was, who snaked an arm around Gaius and hugged him close, burying his face in Gaius' shirt.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Gaius," Merlin said, his voice very small and muffled.

Gaius sighed quietly. He kissed the top of Merlin's head. "It's all right, my boy."

Gaius wrapped an arm around Merlin's back, picked him up in his arms, and stood; he hefted Merlin over his shoulder. Merlin squealed, half in surprise, half in a laugh he wasn't sure he should make. He kicked his legs and Gaius caught them before the flailing limbs took out an eye, and carried Merlin to the bathroom.

He set Merlin down on the floor and knelt in front of him. "How about this, Merlin. You have your bath, change into your pyjamas, and I'll make you those toasties -- exactly the way you want it, no more, no less -- and I'll read you a bedtime story?"

"I'm too old for bedtime stories," Merlin said, crossing his arms. 

Gaius wetted a face towel and washed Merlin's face; Merlin suffered the abuse manfully, and Gaius fought to keep from smirking in amusement.

"Oh, you're never too old for bedtime stories," Gaius said, moving Merlin out of the way to get the water going in the bath. 

"Will says only babies get bedtime stories," Merlin said. He peered over Gaius' shoulder. "Can I have bubbles?"

"You're too old for bedtime stories, but not too old for bubbles?" Gaius asked, raising a brow.

"Stories and bubbles are different!" Merlin squirmed out of his shirt, getting his long limbs tangled. "Even Will says so!"

"And since when do you do what Will tells you? From what I hear, you're the mastermind behind all of the pranks the two of you play," Gaius said.

Merlin's cheeks coloured. "It wasn't me this time!"

Gaius frowned seriously. "Of course not."

"It really wasn't!"

"I believe you."

"Will was trying to impress Beth. I don't even like Beth! She's a girl!"

"You wouldn't have tried to help Will out a little bit?"

"Nope."

"Really?"

"Really," Merlin said, his eyes widening.

"All right. I believe you," Gaius said grudgingly, holding up his hands. 

Merlin rolled his eyes. He hopped on one foot while trying to yank off the sock of the other before tripping and falling onto his arse. Gaius raised a brow instead of laughing -- Merlin wouldn't forgive him if he did. "I'll let you tell me a story if you put bubbles in."

"We're negotiating now?"

"Yup," Merlin said, and if Gaius hadn't turned around at the right time, he wouldn't have seen the flash of gold in Merlin's eyes, and he might have gotten covered in half a bottle of bubble soap if he hadn't moved away in time. Merlin's fine control wasn't the best, but they were working on it.

Gaius wrenched the bottle before it completely upended, stared unhappily at the bathtub as it filled up with more bubbles than water, and thought about how long it was going to take to make all those bubbles drain away, never mind to wash the tub. He was going to have to do it before Hunith got home, too.

He shot Merlin a glare. Merlin returned it with a sheepish shuffle of his feet.

Gaius turned off the water. "All right. One story. One toastie. And make sure you wash behind your ears, Merlin."

"My ears are clean!" Merlin protested.

"They will be once you've washed them, and don't you think I won't check them afterward," Gaius said. He left Merlin to get into the bath, went to fetch Merlin's pyjamas, leaving them on the edge of the sink when he returned.

Merlin was just about invisible beneath the mountain of bubbles. He'd turned the top of his head into a shark fin, and he was singing a completely inappropriate song that he'd probably learned from Will. "You don't sing that in front of your mother, do you?"

Merlin's head popped out of the bubbles. Gaius bit his lip to keep from laughing at Merlin's entirely too-innocent "No?"

"Behind your ears," Gaius reminded him. "I'll be in the kitchen."

Gaius leaned over the kitchen counter, staring down at a sink full of dirty dishes that he got started on a minute later, keeping the pot with the crusted stew for last, leaving it to soak. 

Being on the battlefield, under constant threat of danger, Gaius preferred that to being here on base with family, trying so hard not to step on the eggshells that were scattered everywhere. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to do. It seemed that no matter what, Gaius stepped in it, and he didn't know how to make it hurt less.

Gaius had just put the wet dishes away when Merlin dragged a chair out at the table and made himself comfortable, patting his hands on the tablecloth cheekily. 

"What will it be, young master?" Gaius asked, draping the dishtowel over his arm, bowing his head.

"A toastie," Merlin said, grinning. "Of course."

"And how would the young sir like his toastie this fine evening?"

Merlin scratched a finger on the tablecloth; his smile faded away. He stared at the faded pattern for a long time before he spoke, his voice barely over a whisper. "Like my dad makes it. Please?"

Gaius' heart broke into a million pieces, and he couldn't even bring himself to correct Merlin -- _like your father_ made _them_. Instead, he took a deep breath and said, "As you wish, young sir."

Gaius nearly burned the bread. He slathered on too much of the chocolate spread. The bananas weren't neatly aligned, and he couldn't remember if Balinor used to sprinkle brown sugar or cinnamon or both on the bananas before squishing it all together and cutting them in neat triangles.

His triangles weren't even the same sizes. Gaius hoped that none of his mates among the engineers corps would find out, or they'd mock him mercilessly.

Gaius put the plate in front of Merlin without a word. He poured a glass of milk and left it on the table. He finished drying the dishes and putting them away before he cleaned up the mess he'd made, and by the time it was all done, Merlin had finished eating. He was staring at the crumbs on his plate, and he was sniffling.

"Merlin?" Gaius put the dishtowel on the counter and walked to the table. "Was it all right?"

Merlin didn't look up, squirming in his chair as if a physical demonstration of protest would stave away the tears already welling up in his eyes. "I'm never... I'm never going to have my dad's toasties again."

Gaius closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he reached out and put a hand on Merlin's arm. "I'll make them for you. If you'll let me."

Merlin sniffled again. Gaius barely had time to react before Merlin threw himself into Gaius' arms.

"Promise that you will?" Merlin asked, his voice shaky, trembling, weighed by tears. "Every year?"

"Every year," Gaius said, a lump in his throat, holding Merlin close. "I promise."

He patted Merlin's back, waiting until Merlin's tight grip slackened, and pulled away a little to look at Merlin's face. His eyes were still watery, but he hadn't shed any tears.

"Why don't you go brush your teeth? I'll be a minute, and then you'll have your story."

Merlin huffed, but Gaius could tell it was all for show. He unwound his arms from around Gaius' neck, frowning in a heavy furrow, and tried to look stoic and unconcerned.

He looked so much like his father in that moment that it made Gaius' heart ache all over again.

"Is it at least a good story?" Merlin asked, halfway out the kitchen. 

"It's the best story of all," Gaius said, smiling faintly. He choose not to mention that it had been Balinor's favourite story, too. "It has wild dragons and evil sorcerers, mad kings and lost princes, and a young sorcerer with a great destiny."

Merlin appeared unconvinced, but he gave Gaius a magnanimous nod. "Oh. I suppose that's all right, then. I'll give it a listen."

Gaius barely managed to hold back his laugh. "That's very good of you, young sir. Now off you go. I had better find you under your blankets when I've finished cleaning this whirlwind of disaster that your mother left behind."

Merlin giggled and disappeared down the corridor. "I'll tell her you said that!"

"Don't you dare!"


End file.
